Despite such a basic clause there are people out there who wish to either ram religion down our throats via government or install a form of Christianity as the religion, de facto or de jure, of the United States. They argue that the Founding Fathers intended that the United States to be a Christian nation.
One such person, based on the linked Houston Chronicle article, is Texas State Board of Education member Cynthia Dunbar, R-Richmond. To quote further from the article:
In her book, One Nation Under God, Dunbar argues that the country's founding fathers created "an emphatically Christian government" and believed that government should be guided by a "biblical litmus test."
Dunbar endorses a belief system requiring "any person desiring to govern have a sincere knowledge and appreciation for the Word of God in order to rightly govern."
I don't know where she gets her information for her book. If the Founding Fathers wanted to create a "Christian government" they would have done so and enshrined it in the Constitution. They didn't. They believed in a person's freedoms, liberties and the right to choose. The second sentence really displays her lack of understanding of the foundations of the nation. She wants it to be a requirement that a person be versed in the "Word of God" to be able to govern. Never mind that Article VI of the Constitution explicitly forbids any religious test to qualify a person to hold or run for office. I guess is she had her way she'd just disregard those articles and amendments that she doesn't agree with.
The one thing that also makes me laugh is that she home schooled her kids. Which is fine by me. Home school and raise them the way you see fit. As long as there is no abuse, I think parents have the right to decide how to raise their children. No, the funny part is not only did she home school them, she wants to tell others how to educate their children. She now advocates changing the education system (which she claims is unconstitutional) to fit how the world should function based on her belief of God and the Bible.
No thanks Dunbar. Go back to home schooling your kids, go to your church and pray your little heart out. I'll make my own choices when it comes to religion and if I do or don't believe in a God. Stay out of my government with your religion and I'll stay out of your religion.
